The United States Department of Energy has selected eight research projects to turn long-lived radioactive elements from used nuclear fuel into potential feedstock for advanced reactors. The ARPA-E HORNIG program, announced on 29 October 2026, offers up to $50 million for fuel designs and qualification methods that incorporate recycled transuranic material.
Transuranic elements have atomic numbers greater than uranium. They include plutonium, americium and neptunium created inside a reactor. Some remain hazardous for very long periods. Recycling them into fuel could extract more energy and change the composition of material destined for disposal, but it does not make radioactivity or the need for a geological repository disappear.
The program targets a slow qualification bottleneck
Nuclear fuel must survive heat, radiation, chemical interaction and mechanical stress while keeping fission products contained. Conventional qualification can take well over a decade because developers need fabrication data, irradiation campaigns, post-irradiation examination and models that regulators can trust.
HORNIG’s stated goal is a qualification pathway of less than seven years. The program supports accelerated irradiation, advanced modelling and small-scale manufacturing methods intended to generate evidence faster. That timeline is a research objective, not a regulator-approved shortcut.
Eight projects cover several fuel families
The official project descriptions span metallic, ceramic, particle and molten-salt concepts. Westinghouse received $7 million to develop additively manufactured metallic fuel. Texas A&M University was selected for roughly $5.38 million to study a thorium–transuranic salt system. Standard Nuclear received nearly $7 million for transuranic-bearing TRISO particles, in which fuel kernels are enclosed by multiple protective layers.
Other selections include an Oregon State University nitride-fuel project, an Oklo uranium–transuranic–zirconium metallic fuel effort and an Idaho National Laboratory campaign called IMPACT. INL says its $7 million project will pursue the first irradiation of a fuel containing transuranic material in molten chloride salt. Sandia’s $3.38 million TRU-PATH project focuses on predictive tools for fuel behaviour.
Recycling creates new engineering and safeguards work
Separating and fabricating transuranic material requires shielded facilities, remote handling and tight material accountancy. Different isotopes produce heat, radiation and neutron emissions that complicate manufacturing. A fuel that performs well in a reactor must also have a credible supply chain, transport plan and safeguards regime.
Fuel form changes the problem rather than eliminating it. Coated particles must retain fission products layer by layer; metallic and nitride fuels must control swelling and chemical interaction with cladding; molten salts must manage corrosion and continuously changing chemistry. Each path therefore needs its own evidence package.
The waste claim also needs precision. Advanced reactors might fission some long-lived actinides and reduce their inventory, but they still generate fission products and contaminated process materials. Fuel recycling adds industrial steps and costs. Its environmental and economic case depends on the reactor system, separation method, burnup, waste form and comparison with once-through disposal.
Research awards are not deployment decisions
ARPA-E funds high-risk technical work. Selection does not mean a fuel is licensed, commercially competitive or destined for a particular reactor. Each project must first demonstrate manufacturability and performance, then produce data suitable for regulatory review. Reactor operators would also need reliable access to recycled material and facilities capable of making fuel at scale.
HORNIG is significant because it connects two difficult problems: advanced reactors need qualified fuels, while existing used fuel contains energy-bearing actinides. The eight awards test whether modern modelling, irradiation tools and manufacturing can make that connection practical. The coming evidence—not the size of the announcement—will determine whether recycled transuranic fuel moves from laboratory samples to licensed cores.
Featured image: An industrial energy facility. Contextual image, not a HORNIG laboratory or reactor. Photo: 0xk/Unsplash.
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